The Anna Magdalena Bach Book of 1725

In 1725 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two keyboard suites for his wife Anna Magdalena, whom he married in 1721. These became the first entries in a book in which, over the next twenty years, were gathered together both keyboard pieces and vocal works by Johann Sebastian and his two sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian as well as such composers as Couperin, Boehm, Petzold and Hasse.

An illuminating portrait of domestic music-making in the Bach family during the Leipzig period, this authoritative new edition of the book contains the keyboard pieces only, including the well-known Minuet in G and Prelude in C, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part I, and more substantial items such as C. P. E. Bach’s Solo per il Cembalo in E flat (early versions of Partitas Nos. 3 and 6 and French Suites Nos. 1 and 2 are excluded). This first-class edition, providing an important and attractive introduction to the Baroque style, also contains invaluable advice on appropriate tempo, phrasing, articulation and ornamentation in accordance with contemporary performance practice.